Colonel Hodges, the British Consul-General at Alexandria, had given every facility to the Turkish soldiers and sailors to desert, and when his conduct was brought before Parliament, Lord Palmerston declared that though he had no instructions to that effect, he perfectly approved of his assisting, by every means in his power, the Sultan’s subjects to return to their allegiance. On that declaration of Lord Palmerston I founded my opinion that the squadron ought immediately to proceed to the coast of Syria, seize the Sultan’s ships and troops, and carry them to Rhodes, till further orders, or allow them to act on the coast of Syria in assisting the insurrection, as circumstances might point out. Sir John Louis had no orders on the subject, and did not think proper to take the responsibility on himself. He, however, sent the Castor and Cyclops to Beyrout, for the protection of British subjects and property, and the Gorgon to Malta for instructions; the squadron returned next day to Vourla, and the Powerful to Smyrna. In a few days orders arrived from Sir Robert Stopford for the Powerful and Edinburgh to proceed to Beyrout, but on no account to interfere in any way with the Egyptian squadron; the Commander-in-chief having taken the same view of the question as Sir John Louis. The French admiral was, however, not so certain of our intentions, and he despatched a steamer, with directions, it is generally supposed, to advise the immediate return of the Turkish ships to Alexandria. On the 1st of July we sailed from Vourla, and arrived at Beyrout on the 7th. The Turco-Egyptian squadron, with the exception of two frigates and several corvettes, had sailed two days before, on their return to Alexandria, after landing their troops. The Castor, which was cruising off the port, had seen them the day before my arrival. It would have been easy to have come up with this fleet before they reached their destination, but as my orders were positive not to interfere, I anchored at Beyrout. Had we sailed from Besika Bay the day the Castor did, we should have found them at anchor, and it would not have been difficult to have caused a movement amongst the Turks, which would have furnished me with an excuse for carrying out my own views, and I may add, the policy of the Government; but at sea it could not have been done without a direct interference, from which I was interdicted; and here I may remark, an officer’s taking responsibility on himself, and acting without orders, is very different to acting in direct disobedience of orders, even when satisfied they are erroneous, and it must be a strong case to justify such a breach of discipline. On my arrival at Beyrout, I was visited by Mr. Moore, the British Consul, who gave a most alarming account of the state of the country, and of the want of discipline and insubordination of the Albanian troops, who formed part of the Egyptian army under the immediate command of Souliman Pacha.